Results from the California Summer Reading Outcomes Initiative

Summer learning loss can put children who lack access to summer learning programs nearly three grades behind their peers in reading by the end of fifth grade.1 Public library summer reading programs help prevent summer learning loss. They:

encourage free voluntary reading

motivate students to set and meet reading goals

help adults model good reading habits for children

provide free library events that extend the reading experience

Over 685,000 Californians signed up for public library summer reading programs and over 1.1 million attended summer reading events in 2013. Summer readers tell us that:2

They enjoy the summer reading program90% of children | 82% of teens | 80% of adults | 99% of families

They share books and talk about the books they read61% of children | 66% of teens | 78% of adults | 97% of families

They plan to come back to the library after the summer86% of children | 83% of teens | 85% of adults | 98% of families

They know that the library is a place where they can find things to read79% of children | 78% of teens | 79% of adults | 94% of families

Children who read, succeed. And California's summer readers and library users return to school ready to learn!

In 2013, over 4,000 previously-underserved children, teens, and adults took part in summer reading as a result of targeted outreach by librarians in nine California library jurisdictions.

In all, since 2010 over 14,000 underserved community members have taken part in summer reading as a result of targeted outreach by librarians participating in the California Summer Reading Outcomes Initiative. They include children and teens in a transitional housing facility, teens in a group home, Head Start parents, kids from targeted preschools, elementary schools, community centers, and housing projects, families in the WIC Program (low income women, infants, and children who are nutritionally at risk), and low-income children and teens enrolled in summer enrichment programs through the Summer Matters Initiative.

These children, teens, and adults belonged to communities of readers and library users during the summer thanks to the outreach efforts of California librarians. And the effects of libraries' outreach and related community partnerships continue after the summer:

Sacramento Public Library took the summer reading program to a youth detention facility one year. Over 60 teens participated and 24 finished the program. All participants received books chosen with their interests and reading levels in mind. The library is now beginning to provide donated books for the facility’s library.

A Los Angeles Public Library staff member has reported: “The success to me was seeing so many new faces in the library. I continue to see some of them even after the close of the program, saying hello and of course checking out books.”

In Santa Cruz, in 2011, library staff reached out to a literacy program in a low-income housing area, and the site was subsequently added as a bookmobile stop.